Celestial Sea
by TrueShun
Summary: And more than anyone – well, besides a certain Russian bastard – he understood the allure of space. Arthur had the oceans that called his name. Even now he'd see those emerald eyes stare longingly at the sea, eyes distant as he dreamed of once more exploring those murky, treacherous, exhilarating seas. It was the same for him. But it was the celestial sea that called him.


He looked up, blue eyes shining with undeterred optimism.

It had made it.

Curiosity had landed.

Despite believing it would make it, because he was _damn_ sure it would, he wasn't able to shake the terror of those seven minutes. And judging from the others reactions, he hadn't been alone.

Alfred smiled warmly, his hand resting gently over his heart, the beating of it thrumming with the swirling emotions within him.

This was bigger than him, bigger than the other nations.

Humanity had done this. With sheer tenacity and the childlike-belief of visiting the stars, they had pushed through. And it was brilliant.

A piece of humanity was on Mars.

Not just a piece of American ingenuity, but human ingenuity. Because as much as he would love to take credit for Curiosity, he couldn't. Curiosity was a human accomplishment. It was a breakthrough for **all** of mankind, not just America.

Even without him – without the other nations – humans would still have the drive to pursue the final frontier. They didn't do it for nationalistic pride, though he was sure it did factor in somewhere, but for the simple need of knowledge.

After all, wasn't it "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind?"

They didn't explore because they wanted to. Humans explored because they _needed_ to. There was a difference between the need to do so, and the desire to do it. And while he hadn't understood the difference when he was young, he did now.

And more than anyone – well, besides a certain commie bastard – he understood the allure of space. Arthur had the oceans that called his name. Even now, when he was certain that Arthur thought no one was looking at him, he'd see those emerald eyes stare longingly at the sea, eyes distant as he dreamed of once more exploring those murky, treacherous, exhilarating seas.

It was the same for him.

But it was the celestial sea that called him.

It was a need to explore, to find, not just his, but humanities place in the Universe. And his people looked at the skies with as much love as he did. Their emotions ran through him, addicting and exhilarating, his pulse raced as he looked back at the heavens, an unimaginable amount of stars littering the inky sky.

Just like Arthur, he couldn't fight the pull of the Universe. It called to him, begging him to explore, to find life, to find out _why_ the Universe worked the way it did.

He stared up at the sky, his mind light-years away as he imagined what awaited humanity on their voyage through the stars.

"Here you are, Alfred."

"Heh, didn't think you'd actually show, dude." Alfred looked up, his eyes shining with emotion. "Did you just come?"

Ivan smiled, his eyes slightly dark as he sat next to Alfred. "No, I was here earlier." He glanced at Alfred before his eyes settled on the night sky. "You didn't see me?"

"Nah, man, was sort of busy in the control center."

"I know," Ivan replied cryptically.

"Yeah, it's pre— wait, what?" He turned his head sharply, catching Ivan's highly amused grin.

"You're president invited me, da?"

"To the control center?" There was no way that the boss man would do that! But then Ivan nodded, pointing to the badge around his neck. "No way… let me see that!"

Sure enough there it was, the president's authorization to let Ivan not only into the event, but into the very heart of the operation as well. "What the hell? Nobody told me you were gonna be in there with me."

Ivan smiled, a mix of smugness and honest joy gracing his face. "It was… very exciting. I don't think I've ever seen you so," he moved his hand lazily, his eyes pulling all of Alfred's attention, "so nervous."

Nervous? Alfred puffed his chest, his arms crossed as he looked at Ivan annoyed. "We landed a rover the size of a sedan on Mars, I think I'm allowed to feel a little nervous when we had seven minutes of not knowing whether or not it crashed."

Ivan shook his head. "No, you misunderstand, Alfred." He turned away from him, his mouth shut as his violet eyes scanned the cosmos, and just when Alfred thought the conversation was done, Ivan spoke. "I think it speaks well of you to still be so nervous, when you know that you will succeed."

He opened his mouth, only to close it once again. Well, he hadn't expected _that_.

Ivan glanced at him, his gaze returning to the cosmos so quickly, that Alfred questioned if the platinum haired man had truly looked at him at all. "You heard your flight controllers, everything went as expected." Ivan turned his head, his eyes full of something that looked suspiciously like admiration. "Losing contact with earth, just as expected. Descending at point 75 meters, just as expected. You may be incompetent when it comes to this planet, but when it comes to this," he waved at the night sky, "you are no fool."

What the hell? He blushed, his eyes downcast as he muttered, "I'm not incompetent." Ivan chuckled, and Alfred glared at him. "I'm not! I've sent rovers to Mars before! Spirit and Opportunity are waiting for Curiosity! And how about all those probes?" He stood up, his eyes ablaze with the same determination that fueled the first humans dreams to explore the cosmos. "And don't forget the moon! Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins!"

Ivan nodded, his gaze hard, his smile obviously strained, the air more chilly than it had been earlier.

Alfred bit his lip contemplatively. Shit… he really needed to watch what he said. What had the boss man told him about bringing up sensitive subjects? That's right, don't.

Only the good of space exploration was ever brought up, the accidents, the mistakes, they were buried, remembered but not mentioned. There had been deaths on both side of the space race. For all of Ivan's accomplishment during his Soviet days, there had been massive sacrifices made in the name of exploration. He had them, too, after all.

The Universe called out to Ivan, just as it called out to him. His people were just like Alfred's own. Always looking to the stars, dreaming, and inventing ways to go to that final frontier.

"Hey, don't cut yourself short." He looked at Ivan who looked at him quizzically. "You've got Sputnik, I mean, damn, Ivan, you put something in space even before me." Ivan looked taken aback by the comment, and just as he opened his mouth to retort, Alfred continued, "And that Yuri Gagarin? Dude, fuck you for having the right to claim that the first person in space was a Soviet." He spoke, his eyes boring intently into Ivan's, not because he liked the guy, 'cause no, it was a begrudging respect that was making him name every success that Ivan had made against him.

Because they had been made against him, but so were Alfred's accomplishments at that time. They had been out for each other's blood, the space race had been as much about exploration as it had been for nationalistic pride. Back then he hadn't known better. But now he did.

Space exploration was not a place to settle petty differences between countries. It was so much more than that, if only he had realized that then, than maybe those darker aspects of each of their space programs could have been avoided.

"And don't forget about that probe, Venera 13. You explored Venus nearly 30 years ago! You even got pictures of its surface, how awesome is that?" Because it _was_ awesome. Hell, he was actually getting pretty excited. "That's something to be prideful about. And – _mpff_!"

"… I understand."

Alfred pulled Ivan's hands away from his mouth and nodded. "Good."

He sat back down, more than a little perturbed that he was actually having a cordial conversation with Ivan of all people.

Neither said a thing, the silence a conversation both could have with one another without speaking. There were no words to explain the tragedies involved in their need to go to space. What could either of them say?

The risk of death, of machine failure while out in space, hell, even machine failure while on earth, was great. His own astronaut's screams of death still rang in his head. If he listened quietly, he swore that he could still hear them. There were nights where he couldn't sleep because the screams of the Apollo 1 astronauts rattled in his head. Virgil Grissom, Edward White, Roger Chaffee, he had remembered their names, ingrained them into his very being, lest he forget their sacrifice in the pursuit of space travel. They hadn't been the first casualties, and they certainly hadn't been the last.

Ivan, too, had his share of death. He had been the first to get a satellite in space, to have the first man enter space, and the first to have an in-flight fatality. While he would never admit it to his face, he had been spying on the Soyuz 1 before it had taken off on its ill-fated voyage. From the start it had been plagued with problems, and still they had sent Vladimir Komarov to his demise.

Alfred fisted his hands, his gaze hard. The man knew he was going to die, but had gone so that Yuri Gagarin wouldn't meet his fate. Those screams… he shivered, biting his lip reflexively. Did Ivan remember Komarov's screams?

He turned towards Ivan, the answer clear in those violet eyes. Of course he remembered. How could he forget?

Yet here they were. Celebrating the landing of a rover to Mars. They had begun the space race against one another, and now they were part of a group of nations all working together for humanity.

Alfred smiled. "Humanity," he whispered breathlessly. Space was truly about mankind, not nations. It may have been nationalism that had made space exploration possible, but now, now it was about bettering humanity. How had Neil Armstrong gotten it right so many years ago? It had taken him decades to realize that those steps on the moon had not been for America, they truly were an accomplishment of mankind.

"Humanity?"

Alfred nodded. "To humanity. Not sure what's in store for them in the future, but I know that no matter what, they'll be able to handle it." He smiled, lying on his back, his gaze firmly on the cosmos, where the light of countless stars had traveled light-years just to reach earth, so that earthlings could be inspired by their beauty and their mystic, and that inspiration would push them to build the means to leave their own planet, and travel a never ending world.

Alfred smiled wistfully, glancing at Ivan for a second as he felt the taller male lay next to him. Would Ivan travel the far reaches of space with him?

"To humanity," Ivan uttered back, his gaze flickering from the sky to Alfred. "Age has calmed you."

"Back at 'ya."

Of course the commie bastard would travel with him. It seemed that when it came to space travel, their fates where sealed with one another. After all, the Universe called out to him, just as it did to Ivan.


End file.
